Your 2023 Marketing Plan!
Happy New Year!
At the beginning of 2020, I posted a blog on What’s Your 2020 Marketing Plan? As I look back at it, the 5 steps I outlined then are still relevant today. While the basic steps are the same, the detail, particularly on social media, moves on so I’ve decided to repeat the steps but update the information.
Step #1: Audit what you did in 2022
What exactly did you do last year and why? Did you get the results you either wanted or expected?
When I was reviewing the performance of my other business, Be Your Own Graphic Designer, with my marketing assistant, she was convinced that Instagram was the best-performing platform for driving visitors to our website. However, a quick review of our Google Analytics showed that our highest referrer of traffic was Facebook, followed by Pinterest!
Go into your analytics data, either on the social media platform you’re using or Google Analytics and compare the last few months of 2022 with the same period in 2021. You might see trends that aren’t obvious when you simply compare December 2022 against November 2022.
Step #2 Review your message
I’ve written about how important your marketing message is in another article – The 5-Ms of Marketing. You need to ensure your marketing messages align with your mission, vision, values and goals. Your marketing message is important. Your goal is to rise above the noise. You need to make sure you tell a unique and impactful story.
Make sure your message is laser-focused on your customer and their needs. Developing a strong, unique marketing message takes time and a lot of thought. The focus is always on your target audience and the goal is to communicate value.
The question you need to answer is “what’s your solution to their problem?” but remember people buy benefits and not features – and the benefit must match a need/want/hurt. People don’t usually buy what they need, they buy what they want…it’s an emotional pull.
Improving your storytelling and messaging techniques could be a big win in 2023.
Step #3 Definitely add video to your 2023 Marketing Plan!
While I pointed out the growth a couple of years ago, video has exploded since then. I believe it’s now essential to have an online video marketing strategy in 2023. Just take a look at these statistics from Personify:
- TikTok was the number one downloaded App of 2021, according to Apple.
- 80% of consumers want to see more videos from businesses.
- YouTube has surpassed Facebook as the most popular outlet for influencing consumer behaviour.
- In 2022, streaming online videos and downloads account for 82% of total internet traffic.
- The video marketing industry in the United States alone is worth $135 billion.
- Video is preferred by 80% of people over written text.
- Video has become the most popular marketing channel for businesses, with 87% of businesses already utilizing video as a marketing outlet.
- According to recent research, video utilized as a marketing tool has assisted over 80% of marketers in generating leads.
- 41% of respondents to a survey said videos reduce support calls.
- At least 88% of marketers were pleased with their online video ROI.
- In 2022, LIVE video will account for 17% of all internet traffic, according to another widely reviled Cisco forecast.
- Brand awareness was bolstered through video ads, which was the number one way consumers discovered a company and subsequently bought from it.
- Video streaming is expected to reach over 184 billion dollars in the next five years.
- E-mails with videos have a 300% higher click-through rate than those without.
- According to a recent report, the number of daily live streams on YouTube has increased by 54% since 2020.
- 58% of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Instagram Stories.
- More than 75% of all videos are viewed on mobile devices.
- LinkedIn users are 20 times more likely to share a video than other types of content.
- In 2022, it is estimated that internet users watch 1 million videos per second.
- According to 83% of video marketers, utilizing video has helped lengthen the amount of time website visitors spend on their page.
It does take time to produce videos but the results are definitely worth it and it’s not too late to start.
Step #4 Outline your social media 2023 Marketing Plan
This really goes back to Step 1 of reviewing your analytics. There are good analytics on all the social media platforms so take the time to find them and understand what’s happening on each platform you’re on.
Of course, it is all about which is the right platform for your audience so please do your research first before jumping on the next bright shiny object. It’s important to be able to focus your 2023 marketing plan in the right areas.
TikTok
TikTok has seen amazing growth in the last couple of years but, according to TikTok itself, 80% of its users are 18-34 years old so if Gen Zers aren’t your target market then think again about spending time there. TikTok’s future in the US is also looking a lot less certain and it may be banned after the discovery that Chinese officials had used the app to spy on US journalists.
Facebook is even more crowded than when I did my last review in 2020. The organic reach of a Facebook Page post is now down to around 5%! This means your posts aren’t going to be seen by many of your followers and won’t be liked and shared! As Facebook/Meta’s battle with Apple over Apple’s iOS Privacy policies continues to rage, advertising on Facebook has become more expensive and delivers lower results though may still be worth it provided you have a clear goal.
I talked about reviewing LinkedIn and review whether it’s right for your business back in 2020. During 2022 there was a distinct trend of small B2B business owners and many B2C businesses that target professionals using LinkedIn to promote their services. I can only see that trend continuing in 2023.
There is a feeling that Instagram is dead or dying with so much content competition on there and many changes of direction in 2022 as it wards off new rivals, the latest being BeReal. There still are and will continue to be a lot of people that search for businesses and inspiration on Instagram. Being on it and being able to use it effectively and efficiently will be an essential part of running and growing an Instagram account.
It’s difficult to talk about Twitter in 2023 following Elon Musk’s takeover. I think we all need to wait and see.
Suggestions to improve your social media
If you want to get more reach with your social media, I have a few recommendations which will help:
1. Evergreen content
Use a source of curated content or use evergreen content you’ve created in the past. Create a bank of posts so you never run out of things to post and are consistent with your posting.
2. Increase post frequency
The more you post, the better your chance of reaching your audience. Overall, this strategy can have a great impact on your overall reach and brand awareness. Some of the Facebook pages that get the best results usually post more than three times per day. However, if you post too often and only have a small audience, your posts might compete in the feed for your audience. The solution is to test and track what happens if you only post once a day versus three times per day.
3. Work out a content curation strategy
There are literally thousands of websites posting quality content in your industry. While you might not want to share or make posts of your competitors’ content, you’ll realise that posting their content is still better than not posting at all.
Finding content from other quality sources, such as trade or industry specialist magazines, works as well. It can help position your brand as a thought leader that is always up-to-date with new resources.
If you have evergreen content on your own blog, you could post some of your old articles. Or articles from other experts you think your audience would really benefit from.
4. Creative posts
You need to stand out and being creative is one of the best ways of doing that. The truth is that if people have seen something in particular too often then they won’t look at it anymore.
Being creative and bringing new ideas to your posts can really help improve your reach. One of the things I’ve noticed with both clients and our own posts is that if there’s some kind of motion/video/gif or animation the post has a much greater reach. This is being led by Instagram Reels and TikTok.
5. Post genuine and transparent content
Social media is a place for brands to be more personal and transparent to create a connection with their audience. Some companies share things such as the achievement of company goals or behind the scene of an event.
Step #5: Talk about your ideas and marketing plan with other business owners and marketers
My advice on Step 5 really hasn’t changed, as the best ideas still almost always come from interacting with your peers from different companies or other small business owners.
Compare notes
Ask what worked for them and why.
Maybe the right conversation could spark some useful ideas.
If you need help developing a 2023 marketing plan then please do get in touch. We’d love to be able to help you!
